Single Parents Working Minimum Wages Essay

This sort of rhetoric cannot possibly encompass every family that needs help paying for child care. Not every person seeking help for child care is single. Sometimes it maybe two parents working low paying jobs. Low income workers average $8.24 and with living wages in the D.C. area being $24.92 leaving double-earners, falling short of the living wage by 34% (Caplinger D.,2013). The disparity in pay is clearly a reason why some families choose to keep one parent home in combination to child care

The effects of the 1996 welfare reform bill helped declined caseloads on the social and economic well-being of fragile families, single mothers, and children. Although, the welfare reform was documented for making several positive changes such as reducing poverty rates, lowering the out of-wedlock childbearing, and formulated a better family structure, it is undeniable that poverty remained high among single mothers and their children. The reality of the matter was that most welfare recipients experienced serious barriers to maintain a stable employment due to their lack of skills, not having anyone available to take care of their young children when they leave for work as well as not gaining long-time employment with decent pay to help foster the family. As a result, most poor women and children were faced with the instability of economic and social future as welfare eligibility exhausted their efforts of supporting their families.

Children born to single or unwed parents causes serious problems and discussions not only within society, but also the welfare system. Becoming a parent seems to be one of the most beautiful things life has to offer to people. The laughter of children warms the heart like nothing else can, and the way their eyes light up when they receive something as small as a piece of candy reminds us all that the little things in life are the most important. However, children require time and money which often gets overlooked by many people. Raising a child with two married parents seems difficult enough, but today many people are having children out-of -wedlock which also seems to create more single parent homes and puts more pressure on that one parent who struggles to support the child. From 1960 to 2000, out-of-wedlock births grew by 600%

This lack of “support systems” is why the poor ultimately fail to advance. Throughout the last decade the federal government has issued billions of dollars into work supports, but due to unorganized tactics they have failed at eliminating poverty, “law makers have poured billions of dollars into ‘work supports’ such as child-care subsidies and employment tax credits. Yet no one in Washington seemed to think about assembling these services in a coherent package that would be accessible and convenient to struggling workers” (The American Prospect). The answer, according to Sharon Parrott, director of welfare reform and income support division at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “says it [policy] would have three components: convenient one stop service centers; streamlined application forms; and generous income ceilings so that a working parent doesn’t lose eligibility for, say, health insurance the minute he or she climbs above the poverty

Osborne v. Ohio, 495 U.S. 103 (1990), is a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court held that the First Amendment allows states to outlaw the mere possession, as distinct from the distribution, of child pornography. After Ohio police found photographs in petitioner Osborne's home, each of which depicted a nude male adolescent posed in sexually explicit position, he was convicted of violating a state statute prohibiting any person from possessing or viewing any material or performance showing a minor who is not his child or ward in a state of nudity unless the material or performance is presented for a

In 2008 total money spent on welfare was equally about $16,800 for each person in poverty, equal to about $50,000 for a family of three below the poverty line. Now the author explains in his opinion Americans can do a better job with the money we already spend, while saving the government (ultimately saving us the taxpayers) money. His ideas is similar to the block grant reforms utilized in the 1990s, where welfare recipients gained nearly 25% more income through actually working, while the government reduced welfare recipients and benefits saving the taxpayers 50% over ten years(Ferrara, 2014).

The welfare system was originally created to help people who were temporarily out of work or in need of assistance, but “total welfare spending has nearly doubled since 1996” (Donovan and Rector). Through the years, this program has evolved into a system that still offers assistance, but also does not encourage it recipients to find a way out. The welfare system is dishing out millions of dollars each year to recipients who are putting forth zero effort into supporting themselves and their families. Instead, they rely on tax-payer 's money. The weight of supporting these programs is on the shoulders of middle class workers. As a result American society is getting into deeper poverty. “Unless Congress acts, it will drive the nation into bankruptcy” (Donovan and Rector). The welfare system was at once a good idea to help others get off their feet, but it has changed dramatically over the years due to people abusing the system.

Federal Government has the ability to create positive change in many social welfare systems. The support of the government ultimately determines the success of a social welfare program. They play an important role in the decisions of how funds are allocated and the importance of these various vulnerable populations. The federal government is used as a tool, to help implement and support social welfare programs. However, from my own opinion, it is sometimes lacking in the proper support needed in many aspects. This is caused by a plethora of reasons, not to say that the government is completely unsupportive. Yet, there may be a gap in the perception of these social issues. The government puts in place laws, regulations, system structures, and so on. Therefore, because the government are the implementers of how our country is ran, it is their responsibility to be a main facets in the support of the gaps that inevitably occur. Nonetheless, it can be difficult to understand the needs of these population’s and the reality of their hardships. Most in a position of power, such as the federal government, have not experienced the severity of the many situations, that results in individuals needing assistance from these social welfare programs. Moreover, it is essential that there is outreach to these populations. All the same, getting a more realistic view of the life in these contexts. For instance, the time cap of being on assistance throughout one’s

In the United States people have the opportunity to choose what job they want to work at, its take time and effort also dedication to get a high paying job. Some jobs in the U.S do not require much time and effort to work but the pay is not the best. In recent news there has been lots of attention regarding pay for fast food workers. Most employees that work at fast food restaurants get paid minimum wage which is an average of $8.00 an hour depending on which state you live in. Most states minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and in a few states minimum wage goes up to $9.32 an hour. In the 2014 State of the Union address President Obama asked Congress to raise the minimum wages for individuals working on federal services contracts to 10.10 an hour.

Some families are not able to provide childcare when they need it for their kid(s). “The cost and the scarcity of day care have helped create what sociologist Joya Misra calls “the motherhood penalty”” (Quart). Some families have to have only one income so that one parent could stay home to watch the kid(s). Single parents have to move in with their parents for help because they can not afford the care. People should not have to quit their jobs to take care of their kids when there are multiple daycare facilities.

Lone-parent families struggle to get social assistance from the government because of the welfare policies. Single parents lack affordable childcare with long waiting list, no available space, but if available, it is likely to be costly for single parents to afford. High quality regulated child care is inaccessible to single parent families, and it is not contested; in addition, Canada’s public funding for childcare is very low, consequently, the quality is not as high as it should be. Furthermore, they lack drug and dental benefits and of full time well paid employment, have made it difficult if not impossible for many single parents, as they struggle to balance the competing demands of caring for and providing support for their children.

They do not have a significant other 37 percent of single-parents families lack self sufficiency and are officially poor compared with 7 percent of married-couple families (Rector). Welfare can help the underachieving single parents that do not have a stable income. This proves and shows that some individuals can and want to be

Many researchers have been studying welfare to work, but not until recently has the focus resurfaced on the increase number of single mothers who left welfare for work and went back to the welfare system. According to the 2012 U.S. National Census Bureau,” Single mothers are heading more family households and living in poverty. Almost 31% of households headed by a single woman were living below the poverty line—nearly five times the 6.3% poverty rate for families headed by a married couple” ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Without the necessary income, perceived support, childcare resource and training, the move is a downward mobility from welfare independence back into the welfare system.

Throughout history, there have always been people willing to work for what they want, and those who expect things to be handed to them as if it was a natural-born right. While the welfare system does positively impact some families in need, many people take advantage of it. With this being a well known fact, the government still continues to use ten percent of the federal budget on welfare (“Budget” 1).

Problem behaviors in single parent homes could be the result of low income within the household. It was reported that 80% of single mother households had incomes of $15,000 of below (Peden, 2004). Loss of economic security can cause many problems in a single parent household. Economic problems may cause a loss of attachment between the parent and the child (Hollist &McBroom, 2006). Poverty has shown to cause poor mental health in single mothers and therefore having a bad influence on children. Poor mental health also had an effect on the mother's ability to perform at work or simply left them unemployed.